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Reputed drug 'queen' awaits deportation

By Lorena Figueroa, El Paso Times

Posted:
08/15/2013 01:30:01 PM MDT

Sandra vila Beltrn, known as "Queen of the Pacific," has been transferred to the immigration detention center in El Paso awaiting deportation to Mxico, officials said Wednesday. (Special to the El Paso Times) (SPC/)

EL PASO, Texas — One of Mexico's best-known reputed female drug traffickers, Sandra Avila Beltran, called the "Queen of the Pacific," has been transferred to the immigration detention center in El Paso awaiting deportation to Mexico, officials said Wednesday.

Beltran, 52, who built a reputation for her lavish lifestyle and links between high-ranking members of the Sinaloa and Colombian Norte del Valle cartels, arrived at the El Paso Processing Center Wednesday morning from the South Louisiana Correctional Center.

She is expected to be deported to Mexico City.

Leticia Zamarripa, a spokesperson for ICE in El Paso, did not confirm or deny the transfer and offered no details. DEA officials also said they could not comment.

"For operational security reasons, ICE cannot confirm the location of Ms. Avila Beltran, or provide advance information of her removal," Zamarripa said in a written statement.

She added that Avila Beltran has been in ICE's custody since July 30 awaiting deportation proceedings.

Officials with the Mexican Attorney General's Office, or PGR, and the National Immigration Institute, or INM, in Juarez did not have information on Avila Beltran's deportation.

U.S. officials said that Avila Beltran is expected to return to Mexico under a new deportation program that began July 11 in El Paso in which immigrants from Mexico are flown to Mexico City instead of being turned over to authorities at border crossings.

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According to the program, two flights leave El Paso on Tuesday and Thursday every week, each flight carrying up to 136 passengers.

On July 25, a U.S. federal judge sentenced Avila Beltran to 70 months in prison, but she was released because of time already served in Mexico and the United States.

She was arrested in Mexico Sept. 28, 2007, on organized crime charges and on Aug. 10, 2012, she was extradited to the U.S. to face cocaine smuggling charges. Those charges were later dropped, but she was convicted of obstruction to justice in connection with the arrest of her ex boyfriend, Juan Diego Espinosa Ramirez, aka "The Tiger", a high-ranking Colombian drug trafficker.

After her sentence, Avila Beltran remained a few days in a federal prison in Miami - where she had been the last year - until she was transferred to an immigration detention center south Florida and later to Louisiana.

In April, Avila Beltran pleaded guilty of helping Espinosa Ramirez, who was the link between the Sinaloa and the Colombian Norte del Valle cartels.

Espinoza Ramirez plead guilty in 2009 on drug trafficking charges.

In a 2008 DEA news release, Espinosa is described as an alleged member of the Sinaloa cartel along with Avila Beltran, also known as "The Queen of the Pacific." He was charged in 2002 with conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States; conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine; distributing cocaine knowing it would be imported into the U.S.; and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine on board a vessel subject to U.S. jurisdiction.

The news release said he was allegedly involved in coordinating large shipments of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico to the U.S. in 2001. In November 2001, the release said, Espinosa, Avila Beltran and others allegedly arranged the shipment of cocaine from Colombia to the United States by ship. The ship was boarded by U.S. agents near Mexico with permission of Mexico, and the agents seized 9,291 kilograms of cocaine, the news release said.

In her plea agreement, Avila Beltran admitted that she facilitated money to Espinosa between 2002 and 2004 so that he could travel in Mexico.

Avila Beltran, who is the niece of Mexican drug trafficker Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, had previously said she was innocent of all drug charges against her. She had described herself as a housewife who earned a living selling clothes and renting houses.

Felix Gallardo, aka "The Godfather", is currently serving a 40-year sentence for the 1985 slaying of DEA special agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena and other charges. Last week, Rafael Caro-Quintero, who was convicted in the Camarena slaying, was released from prison after serving 28 years.

Lorena Figueroa may be reached at 546-6129. The Associated Press contributed to this story.